REPORT #162 Jan 2000
HAVE THE PUP FAILED BELIZE? DOES THE LEADER SYSTEM WORK?

Produced by the Belize
Development Trust

After 40 years thereabouts, none of the existing political
parties, have succeeded in turning Belize into a self-sufficient
nation, living within the revenue it produces.

What went wrong with the dreams of Independence? Our adopted
system of colonial government, using centralized elected leaders
has failed to provide the security we all crave.

Can we blame the existing political framework in which the
country is governed? Can we blame a system that elects leaders?
Can we blame carte blanche control of the nation given to one
only political party?

Where exactly has the system failed us?

The PUP after a little over a year in office under new
leadership, have obviously compounded Belize's national debts to
foreign countries and institutions. They are practicing CLASSIC
PUP party policies they have done for the past 40 years. All the
way through those "self government" years and after independence.

Is it right that we be a debtor nation, forever tottering on
the brink of suicide, or bankruptcy? Is this the way for a small
country and it's citizens to live?

Is the dream of being a self sufficient nation just impossible?
Is it possible to govern Belize within the annual revenue of
government and have a balanced budget? Are these things too much
to ask?

If you ask either of the dominant two political parties, their
actions speak for them. The dream of a self sufficient wealthy
Belize is impossible to achieve? They have failed to deliver
after decades. How much time would the UDP need, or the PUP to
achieve the dream? 300 years maybe, or a 1000 years? What would
it take to achieve a self sufficient Belize?

Some things seem obvious to anyone that thinks! Big
centralized government, political party control fails to bring
results. We see this not only in our own Belizean experience,
but also from European history and examples around the world.
There are probably many reasons why well-intentioned people
elected to office under a one party controlled nation fail at
achieving self-sufficiency. Can you think of some of the
dynamics involved that guarantee failure instead of success?

If you wanted Belize to be a strong nation, self sufficient,
capable of standing with it's head high without foreign debt to
anybody, what would you do to change things?

The current system has many flaws! It caters to greed and
ego's. It gives absolute power without checks and balances. It
allows long term debt, versus short term debt. It cannot work
within a balanced budget. Like those many governments similar
through history operating this way, it defaults to large
government bureaucracies in a small nation that cannot afford it.
Yet centralization of power and policy making creates such a
default. This is from ordinary psychology. Everybody in a such a
situation insists their relatives in government get them the
security of a salaried job. Especially the academic style
trained concentrated townies. In our country, this is the old
colonial capital port crowd. But this human nature phenomena has
been repeated throughout 200 years of Central European
parliamentary history. Followed usually by bankruptcy and war.
Concentrated centralized political party power also creates class
divisions, of haves and have nots. Population based voting
coupled with one party controls the nation, also defaults to the
creation of one huge megapolis, usually built as in African
countries on old colonial capitals.

If you are going to truly build a self sufficient nation of
Belize, then the 11 communities that currently are big enough to
be called towns and the 6 districts and 500 villages have to
become EQUAL in power sharing in politics, and policy making on
the national scene. In order to balance the budget, and give
local responsibility through local government, it is obvious that
the current system gives a disproportionate amount of centralized
political power to only one of the 11 towns and one district. If
other evidence is to be believed from both history, but also
around the world, this automatically guarantees a growing one
town megapolis on the coast, ruling and treating the rest of the
nation as serfs, to provide the megapolis. This is colonialism
politics at it's worst and the results are pre-ordained. Indeed
we have the results now, after 40 years and there is no
indication that anyone, no matter how well intentioned can change
the results within the current political system structure.
Certainly, the PUP are failing again. While the UDP don't have a
glimmer of any alternative innovative imaginative solutions and
admit it.

If you are going to build a self-sufficient nation, no matter
the census statistics, the districts have to have an equal share
both in political power, policy making and revenue sharing. The
latter to create a situation in which population will spread to
other districts for development, because of financial
differences. This calls for District BLOCK grant systems to
Districts from National revenues instead of allocations by
political party cabinet fiat. It calls for a system of matching
GRANTS from national revenues to different districts for projects
that need catering to within the means of that district to handle
them. It calls for budget allocations by district agreed upon at
the national legislature to be applied equally to each district
for specific purposes. There are many other ways of distributing
the available revenues and allowing local governments to match
resources through other means, such as volunteerism, or different
pay scales for bureaucratic work.

This obviously calls for District governments, unless the
current rule by townies of the old colonial capital wish to
retain a country that serves the merchant and academic
intelligentsia bosses of the port town in the current old feudal
farm system of exploitation. But if you intend to build a nation
that is wide spread self sufficient, then you are going to have
to spread consensual rule to the other districts, towns and
villages.

It also means changing the role of elected representatives from
that of LEADERS, where policy made by less than a handful of
individuals in a political party, is found instead through
consensus and bartering, thus turning the elected representatives
into MANAGERS of policy approved by all segments of the nation,
each with an EQUAL voice.

Where these situations exist, there is a more than equal chance
that self sufficiency can be achieved, along with social welfare
and family wealth production. So the political studies show by
scholars! The same political studies show Belize is currently on
a guaranteed failed track and that independence, social justice,
elimination of poverty, creation of wealth will not be achieved
as we presently practise our government.

What would you do to change Belize to a self-sufficient wealthy
nation? Form new political parties to contest the failed ones?